A Push in the Right Direction
by ellikanellika
Summary: 'I-I'm s-sorry… I d-didn't mean to- uh-…' she stuttered and walked backwards. She quickly turned around and walked away, putting her hand over her mouth to prevent a scream.


**A Push in the Right Direction**

Mikan was excited.

She quickly put her things into her bag and rushed out of the classroom. She was smiling to herself, her cheeks blushing. She could not wait to see him. She really wanted to walk home with him again. And he seemed to not mind either. She felt warmth overflowing her chest and she practically jumped towards his classroom.

It was strange, she thought. Natsume Hyuuga did not mind walking home with her. He usually avoided girls as much as possible, but he did not avoid her – most probably because she did not jump him the first time she saw him. They started off as enemies, actually.

At the beginning of high school, they were in the same class, and almost every girl in their class tried to flirt with the boy. Mikan was his seat neighbour and was a little annoyed by the rucus he caused because she needed peace and silence to study.

Natsume on the other hand seemed to enjoy the attention and smirked at the girls. He did not flirt with anyone back, but he let them worship him as god. One day, during class, Mikan gave him a small piece of paper, on which she wrote that she would like him to stop his fan-girls of doing what they were doing.

He glanced at her with a smirk and opened his mouth: ''You jealous?''

''As if!'' she told him hotingly. ''I need some peace and quiet, Hyuuga, and because of you, I don't have any of it.''

''I can't make them do anything. It's their decision.''

''You could ask them to stop.''

''Why don't you find another seat then, Polka.''

Mikan blinked. ''You know what? Good idea.'' And she was about to raise her hand, when she realized what he called her. She glanced down, noticing that a part of her bra was showing, and she lost it then.

To put it simply, Natsume ended up being hit with one of her books and they both had to stay in detention. His fan-girls glared at Mikan from then on and Natsume found it funny to tease her every day since that day.

They behaved like a cat and dog – Natsume the cat provoked Mikan the dog and let her chase and throw something at him just for fun. And they kept that kind of frienemy relationship until one school trip in second year. They were walking up the Mount Sobo, when Hotaru Imai, Mikan's best friend, noticed that Mikan was suddenly missing.

''What do you mean missing? Weren't you girls walking together?'' asked the teacher, not yet panicking, but close to do so.

''We were. But she just wanted to take a photo of something and told us to go on, that she'll come in a minute. It's been 15 minutes already.'' Hotaru explained, trying to call her friend over the phone, but the number was not available. The teacher thought about it for a second before he made a decision. ''All right, two boys come with me, in case anything happened to her. The others go on.''

Of course, no one went on. They all went back to look for Mikan, but it seemed she disappeared. Natsume noticed her just by chance. She fell off a very small cliff and lost consciousness.

''I found her!'' he yelled to the others and already jumped down to her. He kneeled next to her and supported her head, lightly slapping her cheeks. ''Hey, hey. Wake up Mikan. Come on.'' After a few moments, she opened her eyes and stared at him in confusion.

''Natsume?'' she whispered, her voice soft and vulnerable.

''I'm here, Mikan. Don't worry. We found you. It's going to be all right.'' He told her, caressing her head. He glanced around and noticed that her phone was completely broken, and that her clothes were slightly ragged.

''Sensei!'' the boy called again, and the group was already above, trying to come up with a plan to help Mikan and Natsume.

''Are you hurt anywhere?'' Natsume asked the girl and looked her up and down, noticing the cuts on her arms and legs.

''I think I broke my leg.'' Mikan whimpered when she tried to move it.

''No, don't. If it's broke, you shouldn't move around. I'll immobilize it.'' He told her and gently put her head on the ground again. He gathered some small branches and took off his shirt. He used it as a band to tie the twigs around her leg.

She cried a little, holding his arm. But she did not need to worry, because then help arrived, and both of them were pulled up. Mikan was brought to the hospital and when she came to school on Monday, her leg in a cast and walking with crutches, the first thing she did, was smile at Natsume Hyuuga and thanked him for help.

They got along way better since then and eventually became good friends. And even if they were not in the same classroom during the last year of High School, they still kept hanging out in the corridor and walked home together. Sometimes it was him waiting for her, and sometimes it was Mikan who waited.

It was usually Mikan, who went and asked him to walk together. He was too 'boy' for that, but Mikan guessed he was just embarrassed. She knew it must be quite obvious that she was smitten with him, and even though she was the only girl he actually hung out with, he never indicate he wanted anything more than just friendship from her.

Right now, Mikan was happy with just his company.

Right now, she just wanted to see him again – it felt like ages since the last break when she saw him. The majority of students already went home and she really wanted to use this opportunity to spend some alone time with him. She arrived at his classroom and pushed the half open door open.

What she saw, made her stop in her movements in shock.

Her eyes widened. Her breathing stopped for a second. Her chest exploded in pain. She blinked and realized she could not move. She made a step back but hit the side of the door with the back of her foot and made a noise that caught the attention of the two kissing people.

His eyes widened when he saw her and Mikan thought she might die having his eyes on her.

''I-I'm s-sorry… I d-didn't mean to- uh-…'' she stuttered and walked backwards. She quickly turned around and walked away, putting her hand over her mouth to prevent a scream. Her eyes welled up in tears and she blinked furiously to stop them. But they were already running down her cheeks and she needed to hide them before anyone saw. She dodged into the bathroom and locked herself into one of the toilet cabins.

Her whole body was shaking, as she sat down on the closed toilet, pulled her legs up, and hugged her knees. She did not make a sound, while crying her eyes out. She felt like dying. She knew that she never really had a chance with him, and she knew she would always stay only one of his friends, but seeing him with another girl…

''I didn't know he already liked someone…'' she whispered.

She never thought it would feel like that.

She should have stopped herself from liking him in that way. She could have prevented it, but she did not, because it felt like he were a boy who would except her emotions and offer her his. She wished she could have made him fall in love with her. She wished she were prettier, smarter, wittier, just something more – so he would like her as a girl.

She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

But it did not matter. If he did not like her the way she was, then she should go search for someone else. Changing for someone is not love. And what she wanted was love.

And it seemed, he would not give it to her.

She looked up into the closed white door of the toilet cabin. Her face was wet with tears and her eyes were slightly red. She felt awful.

''It's just a high school crush…'' she whispered to herself and whimpered one more time. She cried again, seeing his face in her mind. She hugged her knees a little closer, but then, after a very long period of time, she calmed down and evened her breathing. She searched for her handkerchiefs in her bag, pulled them out and wiped her face. Then she stood up and leaned her ear on the door, listening if there was someone there.

There was not of course. Classes ended two hours ago.

She opened the door and walked to the sink, looking at the mirror. Lucky for her, she used a brown-eyeliner and there were no tracers of smudgy make-up. Her cheeks were a little red, but her eyes were not anymore. She washed her face and wiped it again.

She looked in the mirror.

No boy who made her cry like that was worth her.

She took a deep breath and walked out to get her shoes and jacket. But when she came to the locker rooms, she almost turned away. There he was, standing next to her locker, obviously waiting for someone. He seemed deep in thoughts.

He looked up suddenly and noticed her standing there in surprise, his eyes widening.

''Mikan! So you were here!'' he exclaimed and pushed off the lockers, but did not move towards her. ''I noticed your shoes were still…''

''Uh… Yeah… Had to do the paperwork for the student council.'' She mumbled, only half lying. She finished it before, just to make it in time to walk home with him – but then she saw…

She walked forward, trying to get rid of those thoughts. She almost started shaking, once she stopped next to him and opened her locker. She was not sure if she should ask or not, but she wanted to know. But as soon as she opened her mouth to ask him, tears welled up in her eyes. She could not. She rather not know.

''I was waiting for you.'' He suddenly spoke up, answering her unasked question.

Mikan looked at him in shock as she pulled out her shoes and put in her indoor shoes. ''W-why?''

His red eyes were staring at her and she felt so weak. She had to distract herself. She put on her shoes and waited for him to answer. He seemed to struggle with his answer. ''Koisumi forcefully snogged me. She asked me about homework and when I stood up to go away, she snogged me.'' He explained, fidgeting a little.

Mikan has never seen him like that – all nervous and concerned. Was he really concerned what she thought of him? Hope was suddenly rising in her, and her chest felt lighter. ''R-really? She did that? I-I thought-''

''No.'' He interrupted her seriously – as if he did not want her to misunderstand. ''I pushed her away as soon as the shock wore off. So no… There's nothing between her and I.'' he looked at her, and her heart almost rushed out of her throat. She felt her cheeks blush.

''Did you come to our class to ask me to go home with me?'' he asked in whisper, his expression hopeful. Mikan nodded, not able to mutter a word. Mikan's chest was so full of emotions she could fly. She watched Natsume lean closer, and then he hugged her, breathing out in relief.

''I knew you'd misunderstand.'' He muttered into her shoulder, making shivers run down Mikan's skin. ''But I couldn't have held it against you because I never said anything to you.'' He hugged her closer and Mikan raised her arms to hug him back. ''Natsume…''

''There's only you, Mikan.'' He confessed. ''I could never be with anyone but you.'' He leaned back to look at her seriously, his cheeks blushing and his eyes sparkling. Mikan breathed out, emotions overwhelming her. ''I'm in love with you, Mikan.'' He told her clearly.

''You are?'' she whispered, her voice shaking.

He kissed her gently and then pulled away to smile at her.

Mikan opened her eyes, her whole world brighter than ever. ''I-I'm in love with you too, Natsume.''

Natsume kissed her again, this time longer. ''Finally.'' He mumbled somewhere in between and deepened the kiss. Mikan hugged him around his torso and kissed him back. When they pulled apart, he was grinning at her like a little boy. Mikan's face was red, but she was smiling back, and she felt to happy she could scream.

''I think I'm going to scream from happiness.'' She told him and laughed when he grabbed her hips and pulled her closer, only to kiss her again.

''No time for that.'' He joked. After some time, they finally walked out of school hand in hand, talking about what just happened and why it took them so long to say what they felt for each other.

''I was just… I don't know… I'm not good with words and I was a little embarrassed, to be quite honestly.'' Natsume explained, glancing at her.

''Me too.'' Mikan confessed. ''I just… I thought we couldn't be friends anymore in case you rejected me. And you're a great friend to me – I didn't want to lose that.''

''I know what you mean. I too thought so for some time, and I think that was what made me not say anything in the first place.'' He stopped for a moment, pulling at her hand. ''Mikan, do you want to be my girlfriend?'' he suddenly asked.

Mikan looked at him with bright eyes. ''Of course.'' She whispered and pecked him on the lips. ''Of course.''

They kissed again and did not surprise anyone with the news the next day. It seemed that everyone already considered them as a couple since the start.

''Well… No wonder no one asked me out before you.'' Mikan commented.

Natsume smirked. ''I had to mark my territory a long time ago, you know.''

Mikan blinked at him. ''Mind telling me about it?''


End file.
